Powder Magazine, Williamsburg, Virginia

Powder Magazine, Williamsburg, Virginia

Powder Magazine (Williamsburg, Va.)

Block 12. Building 09.

Powder magazines - Virginia - Williamsburg

Historic buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg

Lantern slides - Hand-colored - 1930-1940

Lincoln, F.S.

Exterior of the Powder Magazine, viewed from southeast looking toward the building's entrance, 1935. Among Williamsburg's original eighteenth-century buildings, the octagonal Powder Magazine has taken on many different functions over time. Constructed in 1715 under the orders of Governor Spotswood, the Magazine was used as a secure storage site for arms, ammunition, and military equipment sent by Queen Anne for protection of the colony. The surrounding wall was added during the French and Indian War for added security.

The Magazine reprised its role during the Civil War, when Confederate soldiers again stored gunpowder inside. In the late nineteenth century, town residents re-purposed the building for use as a market house, Baptist church, dancing school, and livery stable. Efforts by the A.P.V.A. to protect the historic structure led to its preservation as an early tourist attraction in Williamsburg prior to the birth of Colonial Williamsburg

Lincoln, F.S.

1935

Peter Hornbeck Lantern Slides Collection, AV-2000.9, Box 1

jpeg

Image

HLS-50

Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Lantern Slide

3.25 x 4 inches